Research Initiation Award: Probing inter-compartmental cross-talk between redox and amylin signaling networks

研究启动奖为历史上黑人学院和大学的初级和中级职业教师提供支持，他们正在建立新的研究项目或重新定向和重建现有项目。预计该奖项将有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和效率，改善家庭机构的研究和教学，并使本科生参与研究经验。授予斯佩尔曼学院在许多领域具有潜在的更广泛的影响，并将有助于建立其研究能力，提高代表性不足的学生的教育和研究经验。 这项研究旨在了解β细胞死亡，这一过程被认为部分是由于胰淀素（一种由β细胞共同分泌的蛋白质）增加而发生的。更广泛地了解胰淀素和UCP2的作用将有助于理解细胞如何进行通信，以便它们能够保持健康的细胞状态。本项目的目的是阐明解偶联蛋白2（UCP2）在β细胞中的作用，β细胞是已知的分泌胰岛素的细胞。尽管在描述β细胞时不经常讨论胰淀素的分泌，但胰淀素已显示与胰岛素共分泌。胰淀素在负面影响β细胞功能中的作用最近已被描述。UCP2以减少代谢过程中产生的氧自由基数量而闻名，这表明UCP2可能有助于保持β细胞健康，因为大量的氧自由基会导致细胞功能低下。本项目将研究UCP2对胰淀素功能的影响，从而影响胰淀素在β细胞中发挥的作用。此外，该项目还研究了UCP 2对神经细胞中胰淀素的影响，这些细胞也被证明具有增加的胰淀素水平。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Research Initiation Awards provide support for junior and mid-career faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building new research programs or redirecting and rebuilding existing programs. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at the home institution, and involves undergraduate students in research experiences. The award to Spelman College has potential broader impact in a number of areas and will assist in building its research capacity and enhance the educational and research experiences of underrepresented students. This study seeks to understand beta-cell death, a process that has been suggested to occur partially as a result of an increase in amylin, a protein that is co-secreted from beta-cells. A broader understanding of the role of amylin and UCP2 will contribute to understanding how cells communicate so that they can maintain a healthy cell status.The objective of this project is to clarify the role of Uncoupling Protein 2 (UCP2) in beta-cells, which are cells known for secreting insulin. Although the secretion of amylin is not often discussed when describing beta-cells, amylin has been shown to be co-secreted with insulin. The role of amylin in negatively impacting beta-cell function has recently been described. UCP2 is known for decreasing the number of oxygen radicals resulting from a metabolic process, which suggests that UCP2 may work to keep beta-cells healthy since a high number of oxygen radicals can lead to poor cell function. This project will investigate the influence of UCP2 on amylin's function, thereby affecting the role that amylin plays in beta-cells. In addition, the project examines the influence of UCP2 on amylin in neuronal cells, which are cells that have also been shown to have increased levels of amylin.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.